I know, I know but he’s saying the right things – e.g. he’ll arrange collection once the funds have cleared into my account. It’s easy to think the worst but there are some genuine people out there. I sold a bike a few years ago to a chap in France – arranged to meet ‘his mate’ off the ferry at Plymouth, which all sounded a bit dodgy. I turned up, met the bloke who handed over the full asking price in sterling and off he went, straight back on the ferry.

Cash on collection can be just as risky, unless the buyer is willing to meet outside a bank and wait while I pay the money in.

There’s a bit of a history of fraud via fake travellers cheques. Don’t know the value of what you’re selling, but would have to wonder why anyone would have enough of these to buy anything major, particularly if they’re meant to be UK based but away only briefly in which case they’d have UK payment options.

It does sound dodgy, but then recently I sold a load of old magazines to someone in UAE who sounded very dodgy at first, but in the end all worked out fine. £100 worth of magazines £250 postage!! (which he paid directly for once I’d got the quote).

Just make doubly doubly sure that the cheques have definitely definitely cleared!

Tell him to send his mate the cheque, then said mate can bring the cash round.

My understanding was that TCs were “like cash.” Is it possible that a bank teller would accept a TC and immediately credit you, and then reverse the payment when they were found to be forgeries at a later date?

It may be legit, but even if the scam isn’t immediately obvious I’m fast coming to the conclusion that any transaction that includes “my representative” is dodge city. Ditto non-standard payment methods that people aren’t generally familiar with.

The other shibboleth is that people who are in the UK but working away don’t generally say things like “your price is considerable, I hope to read from you soon.”